Menu

So it turns out I need a cat whisperer. After months and months of our cat waking us up every night to be let out, my husband had had enough. So I looked up online to see if there is anyway I can get the cat to stop waking us up. I really had to laugh. It is my job to help parents with the same thing and I never thought to transfer the same ideas over to the cat.

Consistency and Routine.HAHA!It is what I preach everyday and I even knew it, but I wasn’t doing it. Which makes me think about how many parents are aware of what they are supposed to be doing, but aren’t doing it.So with routine, the website says, “Be sure that you set up a routine for your cat. Feed him at the same time every day, have play time about the same time everyday.” So I was feeding my cat whenever I got around to it, and sometimes not at all if I forgot. I have two little ones and sometimes they would want to feed the cat in the middle of the day and I thought, “Hey, why not?” I know why not, it breeds insecurity, apparently with cats as well.

With consistency, the website says, “If you consistently interact with your cat when they are meowing at night, then they will continue to meow. But if you stop interacting with them, then they will stop meowing at night.” It is hard to be consistent because I know that if I just let my cat outside, then I can go back to sleep. But if I don’t, then he will continue to meow for the next hour or so. But the website then says, “Inconsistency will lead to your cat continuing to wake you at night. If you are consistent with not interacting, then your cat will no longer wake you after 10 days to 2 weeks.”So we are on night three of my new plan. I have been feeding my cat at 8 am and 5 pm for three days straight and he has meowed for about a half an hour for two nights and we didn’t interact with him. It hasn’t been too bad because now we have a plan. Before, it just drove my husband crazy because it felt like we didn’t have control, but now we have a plan and we are a united front!Lessons learned:

1) You get into a rut and think that what you are experiencing is the only option. But it’s not.